because everytime that i somewhat fall asleep tonite, i am woken up with tim's coughing spells. add to that addie's cough here and there and a million things running through my ming, and that is why i am awake at 2 in the morning. blah- tomorrow (or do i say today now) its going to be bad.
so tonite we took fil out to eat since mil is on a retreat and he was home alone. we went to grinders and were seated near this nice looking older man. at one point during the evening, another older man stopped to say "hello" to the man near us and said how he heard about his wife dying. the guy near us told him that she was actually just in a nursing home- but yes it has been a hard year.
anyways...for some reason my heart just went out to the man. he was there, all alone without his lifelong companion. i so just wanted to turn to him and invite him to sit with us- just for a bit of company. as it happens, at one point near the end of our meal, addie wanted out of her seat and as she was playing on my lap he commented about how cute she was. he then began to talk about his twins daughters that are now 45 and shared how hard it was to raise two girls with another toddler at the time. he then proceeded to ask me if we ate there often- which we don't since having children. he shared that he eats there every nite after going to visit his wife at the nursing home. i so just wanted to give him a big hug- you could see the loneliness in his eyes. fast forward to our getting ready to leave and he chats a bit more and tells me that he hopes he will run into us again and told addie she better watch out b/c those boys will be chasing her.
i was so drawn to him i almost didn't want to leave- i knew he would be leaving soon and going home to an empty house, an empty bed, no one to cook for him and make sure he was ok.
of course i couldn't stay but i hope to run into that man again someday and i only hope that somehow tonite wasn't quite as lonely for him.
so tonite we took fil out to eat since mil is on a retreat and he was home alone. we went to grinders and were seated near this nice looking older man. at one point during the evening, another older man stopped to say "hello" to the man near us and said how he heard about his wife dying. the guy near us told him that she was actually just in a nursing home- but yes it has been a hard year.
anyways...for some reason my heart just went out to the man. he was there, all alone without his lifelong companion. i so just wanted to turn to him and invite him to sit with us- just for a bit of company. as it happens, at one point near the end of our meal, addie wanted out of her seat and as she was playing on my lap he commented about how cute she was. he then began to talk about his twins daughters that are now 45 and shared how hard it was to raise two girls with another toddler at the time. he then proceeded to ask me if we ate there often- which we don't since having children. he shared that he eats there every nite after going to visit his wife at the nursing home. i so just wanted to give him a big hug- you could see the loneliness in his eyes. fast forward to our getting ready to leave and he chats a bit more and tells me that he hopes he will run into us again and told addie she better watch out b/c those boys will be chasing her.
i was so drawn to him i almost didn't want to leave- i knew he would be leaving soon and going home to an empty house, an empty bed, no one to cook for him and make sure he was ok.
of course i couldn't stay but i hope to run into that man again someday and i only hope that somehow tonite wasn't quite as lonely for him.
9:51 AM
you have such a big heart-always have! i am sure that just talking to you and seeing Addie really made his evening, and perhaps he wasn't as sad to go home because he had lots of happy memories stirred up to think about!!
6:23 PM
Oh Jen , I was just popping on to comment that your blog has made me totally addicted to that Alanis song. But after reading your latest post....I'm all teary-eyed! I have such a soft spot for elderly gentleman that I see eating alone in restaurants. It just tugs at my heart strings. It's so sweet to hear that you share that same sensitivity. I hope that just that little bit of company your family was able to give him helped to lift his spirits. Maybe you'll run into him another night and can invite him to your table. (((Hugs))) to you for being so kind.